SatSig topic:

HX: LAN Switch set up

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Jul 29^th, 2008 at 1:34pm

Just trying to get the most out of my system we have set up here in Iraq. I have the HX50 modem and 12 people on the system...I cant remember what our up/down speeds are, but we pay about $3800 every 3 months for the service. Anyway, i have a few quick questions. The internet is up and running just fine, but seems to bog down in the evenings where yahoo messenger is spotty. During the day when most are at work, the sytem works great. My question is, there are 2 LAN portgs on the modem, would it be better to have 2 switches (one plugged into each port) with 6 computers on one and 6 on the other, or 1 switch with with all 12 coming off of it? Also it seems the best signal stregth we can get here at the airport is about 91....is that good enough for optimum performance? Lastly, what if anything is there that i can do to make the system run faster? Thanks for all your help

v/r
Ben

Jul 29^th, 2008 at 10:20pm

I believe the second LAN port may be used to set up a second account on the same modem, perhaps with different QoS settings, for example dedicated to VoIP phones. You can discuss this with BW.

Regarding signal strength, 91 is above the threshold at which errors start to occur, so the value is of no consequence to the bit rate. 100 would make no difference.

Without going to a higher tariff, and to increase user satisfaction I would suggest getting the BW Turbo software, which you will get free for at least one PC. This involves a server at the hub that intercepts web page images and text and compresses them before they are sent to you. There is no benefit for videos/music. Try it and see how it goes. Buy more copies if satisfied. Read my turbo acceleration test results. Direct people preferably towards the PCs which have the turbo software.

Watch your HX FAP status carefully and plan to exploit each 8 hour period to the full. Encourage people to use it during the quiet period and try to spread the load. Make sure any automated software and antivirus upgrades are set to occur out of peak hours. If email clients run automatically, make the polling every hour or simply manual, and not every minute, for example.

Share files amongst your PCs rather than downloading the same file multiple times. A local proxy server/firewall can do this but you need some IT person to look after it. A local PC dedicated to a traffic monitoring display might also help, running https://www.paessler.com/prtg for example. Your switch may have an internal management / traffic monitoring facility.

Best regards, Eric.

Jul 30^th, 2008 at 9:10am

With the subscription these gents are running, they can actually get free Turbo licenses for 5 PCs - BW offer this to all subscribers on the Office, Corporate and Business packages.

Further licenses can be supplied for $30 per PC per year.

Jul 30^th, 2008 at 9:27am

How do i go about getting these 5 free licensesand the software itself (they need o be xp and vista compatible)? Thanks,
Ben

Jul 30^th, 2008 at 1:26pm

If you email me, I will respond back with the link (which is confidential):

carl@bentleywalker.com

For each PC you want to install the software on, enter the link in the browser and an installer for the Turbo software should come up.

The software is compatible with Windows XP and Vista.